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Miami City Ballet Opens with Holiday Classic

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker"
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center
Miami, Florida
December 13 to 15, 2019

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2019 by Sean Erwin

Miami City Ballet opened with George Balanchine’s Nutcracker at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, December 13th to 15th with strong attendance at the Friday opener and a packed Sunday matinee.  Both castings turned in strong performances.

Some North American ballet companies make news with intentions to remake Nutcracker productions to reflect their city’s racial and ethnic mix. MCB has already accomplished a great deal here, a fact Isabel Toledo infused into her costumes.   In 2017 celebrated woman’s designer Isabel Toledo and her husband, artist and illustrator, Ruben Toledo revamped the costumes and design elements of MCB’s Nutcracker.  Mrs. Toledo died in August but she left behind a production that bubbles with embossed fabrics, surprising cuts of coat and dress and happy juxtapositions of texture.

Miami City Ballet School students in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®. Photo © Alexander Iziliaev.  

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami Opens Its Season Transformed

“Under the Olive Tree” and "Genus"
Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami
South Miami Dade Cultural Center
Cutler Bay, FL
November 16, 2019

by Sean Erwin
copyright© 2019 by Sean Erwin

Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami opened its 2019-2020 season with “Ballet Sculpture and Serenity” at the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center November 16th at 8:00pm to a mostly full house.  Two company premieres and a world premiere headlined a program of works united by the theme of metamorphosis and classical Greece in the three year old company, itself transformed by key departures and fresh additions over the summer. Atlanta-based choreographer Tara Lee’s “Under the Olive Tree” headlined the program for only its second full-length performance since the company’s debut in November 2016.  The ballet itself is visually lavish even if its libretto – the Greek gods descend from heaven to experience human passions – is impossible to decipher in the action on the stage. 

Claudia Lezcano & Fabian Morales in "Apollo & Daphne"

Miami City Ballet Opens 2019-2020 Season with "Slaughter"

“Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” “Mercuric Tidings,” “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue"
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center
Miami
October 18-20, 2019

by Sean Erwin
copyright© 2019 by Sean Erwin

Miami City Ballet’s 2019-2020 season-opener “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” debuted October 18-20 at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. All three performances shared exceptional contributions from the men (many new to the company), inspired contrasts between the works, and a depth of talent where first and second casts forwarded equally strong performances.

George Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” headlined the program, which – like last season’s “Duo Concertant” – premiered at the 1972 Stravinsky Festival organized to recognize the composer’s death. Stravinsky’s score stems from the 30s collaboration in Paris between the composer and violin virtuoso, Samuel Dushkin.  The ballet opens with a Toccata followed by two Arias composed of a pas de deux danced by two different couples; it then closes with a Capriccio for the entire cast. Violinist Mei Mei Luo’s solo here was exceptional and the dancing, inspired.

Miami City Ballet’s Redesigned Nutcracker

"The Nutcracker"
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Miami, Florida
December 20th, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

Miami City Ballet’s Thursday, December 20^th second casting of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker" was packed for the mid-week showing of the 2018 reformat of the Balanchine classic. The new sets and costumes by Ruben and Isabel Toledo were gorgeous, and they anchored the MCB production to the Hoffmann short story, deepening the ballet.  Add to that a cast hailing from the four parts of the globe, the show struck a powerful counterpoint to a Federal government shuttered over immigration issues.

Miami City Ballet’s Program I: Balanchine, Taylor and Another America

“Concerto Barocco,” “Company B” and “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Miami, Florida
October 19th and 21st, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

Miami City Ballet Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez addressed the audience before the start of MCBs 33rd season on Friday, October 19^th at the Adrienne Arsht Center and dedicated the performance of “Company B” to choreographer Paul Taylor, who died in August. 

With that, Program I opened to “Concerto Barocco”, danced to Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins. This piece debuted on tour in 1941 as part of the State Department’s initiative to cultivate support during the war among South American allies.  

Simone Messmer, Jovani Furlan and Miami City Ballet dancers in Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. Photo © Alexander Iziliaev.

Teatro alla Scala's "Don Quixote"

"Don Quixote"
La Scala Theatre Ballet
Teatro alla Scala
Milan, Italy
July 10, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

At a time when the need to stage story ballets is sometimes discussed in the U.S. as a necessary evil the La Scala Theatre Ballet shows in its latest production of Nureyev's 1970 adaptation of Marius Petipa's, "Don Quixote", with its July 10th opening in Milan, that traditional ballets, when well staged, can be as gorgeous and thought-provoking as Ratmansky’s "Concerto DSCH" or Peck’s "Murder Ballades". After all what could present more paradoxes than a libretto that forefronts an appeal for transcendent over carnal love argued by a protagonist (Don Quixote) who himself can’t distinguish dream from reality? 

Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko, photo © Teatro alla Scala

An Intimate Evening of Ballet: Spotlight on Contemporary Female Choreographers

“Under the Olive Tree (Excerpts),” “Echoe,” “Á Morgun,” “Space Between Words,” “Fractales”
Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami 
South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC), Lab Theatre 
Cutler Bay, Florida
Saturday April 21st, 3:30pm

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

In the Fall of 2016, within months after announcing their retirement from Miami City Ballet, principal dancers Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra formed Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami bringing together Cuban classically trained dancers and former Miami City Ballet dancers versed in the Balanchine tradition. Since then DDTM has shaken up the South Florida dance scene. Last weekend’s program – “An Intimate Evening of Ballet: Spotlight on Contemporary Female Choreographers” - proved another success for this young company which, in its first eighteen months, has received a 2017 Knight Challenge Grant and now looks toward its debut at New York’s Joyce Theater on June 26^th and 29^th followed right after by their first appearance at the storied Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

"Under the Olive Tree" by Tara Lee (c) Simon Soong, Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami 

Miami City Ballet Ends Season with Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH

“Apollo,” “Concerto DSCH” and “La Valse”
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Miami, Florida
April 13, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

Artistic director, Lourdes Lopez addressed the audience before the start of Miami City Ballet’s Program IV and recalled the trajectory of the 2017-2018 season that began with Balanchine’s Emeralds, saw the company’s first post-modern ballet in Brian Brooks’ “One Line Drawn” as well as an all Robbins celebration. The night opened to George Balanchine’s 1928 version of “Apollo” with music and libretto by Stravinsky, and dancer Jordan Elizabeth Long seated on a platform in the role of the goddess Leto.

Photo of Renan Cedeiro and Tricia Albertson in "Apollo" courtesy of Alexander Iziliaev 

Miami City Ballet’s Program III – A Taste of the Future

“Theme and Variations,” “One Line Drawn” and “The Concert”
Miami City Ballet
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts
Miami, Florida
February 9, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

On Friday, Miami City Ballet artistic director Lourdes Lopez first addressed the audience and expressed her commit- ment to keeping ballet relevant. Referring to that night’s world premiere by post-modern choreographer Brian Brooks, Lopez added that with Program III, “we have the future sandwiched between two masters of the past.”

 Photo: Miami City Ballet in "Theme and Variations" Photo © Alexander Iziliaev  

Miami City Ballet's Robbins Program

"Circus Polka," "In the Night," "The Cage" and "West Side Story Suite"
Miami City Ballet; Jerome Robbins Centennial
Adrienne Arsht Center
Miami, Florida
January 12, 2018

by Sean Erwin
copyright © 2018 by Sean Erwin

The Friday January 12^th opening of Miami City Ballet’s Program II rocketed a packed Adrienne Arsht Center out of the box with three carefully chosen company premieres that complemented established company favorites for an evening that presented Jerome Robbins as a creatively complex choreographer whose works still cast a relevant lens onto American popular culture.

 

Photo:  Simone Messmer and Renan Cedeiro in Jerome Robbins' "Other Dances."  Photo by Alexander Iziliaev.